Page 56 of Wicked Thirst
The others all seemed to know what she’d just done, but I didn’t see how the paper being set on fire would help us.“What was that?”
“I was warning Zinnia that we’re in trouble?—”
One of The Fallen suddenly dropped to the ground in front of us. The ground dented with his landing and my eyes went up . . . and up. I was used to Grayson, Atlas, and now Kylian who stood over six feet tall, but this angel was massive. He was closer to seven feet tall with wild tousled hair that had hues of brown, blond, and red streaked through it. I sucked in a breath and held it as the fallen angel in front of me glared at us with the most vivid sapphire eyes I’d ever seen. Tiny flames danced over his dark black wings, making the oily feathers appear even darker.
I took a step back and nearly collided with Kylian. He placed his hand on my lower back, holding me there. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Steady.”
“I can’t.” My nerves were shot, I’d just fought demons and now I was facing the wrath of fallen angels. They were bigger than I expected and more dangerous looking. I’d thought angels would have some kind of bright inner light, with radiant peace. But this one only radiated power and danger. The energy around him was so strong I wanted to move away from him, but at the same time couldn’t seem to stop myself from staying where I was. The swords in my hands suddenly felt heavy and out of place.
I handed them to Kylian. “Take these.”
“What am I gonna do with them?”
“I don’t know, get right of them?” He didn’t take them back, but he grazed his finger over each blade and they turned to dust in my hands, falling to the ground around my feet.
“Matteaus—” Beckett stepped forward and began to speak, but when the angel held his hand up, Beckett slammed his mouth shut.
Steady? How could I be steady facing this . . . this Matteaus being? The power that simmered around him made my skin heat. Another fallen angel dropped down beside him, and though there was a smirk on his face, I didn’t think he found any part of this funny. The smile was humorless and cold. His eyes were a dark hazel at the center that turned to the most vibrant sage-green I’d ever seen. Messy brown strands of hair fell all around his face, almost highlighting how beautiful he really was. His lips were full and shapely. He was so beautiful my jaw nearly dropped.
“I don’t think he’s taking commentary at this time.” The beautiful angel pulled his wings in toward his back, and for a moment I found myself mesmerized by the deep-black feathers that were tipped with a green that matched his eyes.
“What Mika said.” Matteaus didn’t move as the others all landed around him.
Mika crossed his arms over his chest and glowered in our direction. “I, however, can only think one thing: what the actual fuck were you thinking?”
“We weren’t.” I hesitated. “We kind of just acted.”
“You expect these young ones to think before they act?” Matteaus rolled his eyes.
“Fair point.” Mika nodded in agreement with him.
How could I rebut that? We ran into the situation headlong without thinking. When I was about to apologize, four other angels all landed around him. One after another their giant wings caused gusts of wind to fill the courtyard and sent my hair flying back from my face. Their presence sent shivers up and down my spine. We were in deep shit, and all I could think was that Grayson was in even deeper.
Matteaus sighed and it came out more like a growl. “We’re not all in attendance.”
I thought he meant all The Fallen, and he was right, we were missing one, but I had no idea which one. But when he waved his hand and suddenly the rest of our crew was standing behind us, I got what he meant. He meant the other Witch Queens and Guardians. They were all here now: Tabi, Ashryn, Serrina, Maze, Tilly, Ophelia, a guy who looked nearly as dangerous as The Fallen, a girl with white-blonde hair and gloves up to her elbows, and also a freaking tiger. Why a tiger? The others didn’t seem put off by the arrival of so many people or even a freaking tiger. I shook myself, trying not to stare, so I forced myself to face The Fallen.
Zinnia moved to the front to stand next to me with Astrid on her other side. She lowered her voice. “Thanks for the fire message.”
“I tried to warn you,” Astrid whispered back.
Do you think we can’t hear you?
The words brushed through my mind like someone had spoken them out loud. I glanced around at the others to see if they’d also heard him. But when I looked back, they were all stoic and unmoving. Tilly hid behind Maze, pressing her body behind his until she was nearly invisible. All I could see of her tiny body was some of her wild, wavy blonde hair popping out from behind his back. Beckett inched closer to Astrid, and the backs of their hands barely touched, but it seemed like enough to soothe them for the moment. This situation was just adding to the shit storm we were already in with Grayson.
They all hear me.The voice spoke again this time with an ultimate authority that I couldn’t deny even if I wanted to. Turn around, Piper.
When I snapped my head back around, one of the angels with wild black hair hanging past his shoulders stared at me with dark-purple eyes. He was slightly bigger than Matteaus and had larger muscles. A thick scar ran through his eyebrow, and when he arched it at me, it almost looked like the tip of a knife. Though it was winter, he wore a black tank top and black leather pants with heavy biker boots. I found it odd there was a pair of headphones wrapped around his neck at such a time. When he smirked at me and pointed to his temple, I knew it was he who spoke into my mind.We’re here for you, Piper. You’re in over your head.
Yeah, tell me about it, I thought back at him, and his eyes widened and his lip twitched as though he were fighting a smile.
He wasn’t wrong. I was in way over my head—with this world, with them, with Grayson. It felt like at any second I was going to drown. I didn’t think any of the other Fallen would know just how overwhelmed I felt, but this one did. It was difficult to look at him, and when I tried to turn my attention toward the others, I met eyes with the only female Fallen. I felt like her outside was such a contrast to the turmoil I felt rolling through my insides. She was calm, cool, and collected. Her hair flowed down her back in long dark waves that she braided from the crown of her head all the way down. Her eyes were sharp and observant but the stormiest gray I’d ever seen. Her tiny frame was strapped down with so many weapons that I couldn’t tell which leather strap held which weapon. Knives, swords, a whip, and even throwing stars were all strapped to her. She didn’t wear jewelry as accessories, she wore weapons.
“Kadeion,” Matteaus held his hand out toward her, “the paper please.”
She nodded her chin toward the angel next to her with a silver mohawk and a lizard perched on his neck that seemed to change colors every few seconds. “Taliam, you have the paper I gave you?”
“Right here.” He pulled a folded envelope from his pocket and handed it over to Matteaus. Taliam wasn’t as muscular as the others, but he was nearly just as tall. His body was all long, lean muscle. He wore ripped black jeans and a graphic T-shirt that read ‘Feral’ across the front of it.
